NORTH CAROLINA. Ousted Governor and HB 2 super-proponent Pat McCrory “definitely” has a place in the Trump administration: “’They’re definitely going to take care of him,’ said the source, who asked not to be named because he’s not authorized to speak for the transition. McCrory met with Trump last week at Trump Tower in New York City. The day before, he’d met backstage with Trump during the president-elect’s thank-you rally in Fayetteville.

NORMALIZATION.Bill Gates compares Trump to JFK: “But in the same way President Kennedy talked about the space mission and got the country behind that,” Gates continued, “I think whether it’s education or stopping epidemics … [or] in this energy space, there can be a very upbeat message that [Trump’s] administration [is] going to organize things, get rid of regulatory barriers, and have American leadership through innovation.”

CLAP BACK.Lady Gaga will do interview with Piers Morgan, who said he didn’t believe she has PTSD: “if you continue to shame me in the process of kindly agreeing to interview w/ u I’ll happily do the interview with someone else.”

OKAY, GIRL.Rudy Giuliani says he turned down two cabinet-level jobs in the Trump administration (neither of which were Sec’y of State): “He declined to name the positions but acknowledged to CNN’s Chris Cuomo that those two “very high” positions did not include the top job at State. Giuliani had been an early contender for that post, and was unusually public about his attempt to court it, but the transition team said last week that he was no longer in the running.”